Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Dissimilar Double-Side Friction Stir Welds Between Medium-Thick 6061-T6 Aluminum and Pure Copper Plates

It is difficult to achieve Al/Cu dissimilar welds with good mechanical properties for medium-thick plates due to the inherent high heat generation rate at the shoulder-workpiece contact interface in conventional friction stir welding.Thus,doubleside friction stir welding is innovatively applied to join 12-mm medium-thick 6061-T6 aluminum alloy and pure copper dissimilar plates,and the effect of welding speeds on the joint microstructure and mechanical properties of Al/Cu welds is systematically analyzed.It reveals that a sound Al/Cu joint without macroscopic defects can be achieved when the welding speed is lower than 180 mm/min,while a nonuniform relatively thick intermetallic compound(IMC)layer is formed at the Al/Cu interface,resulting in lots of local microcracks within the first-pass weld under the plunging force of the tool during friction stir welding of the second-pass,and seriously deteriorates the mechanical properties of the joint.With the increase of welding speed to more than 300 mm/min void defects appear in the joint,but the joint properties are still better than the welds performed at low welding speed conditions since a continuous uniform thin IMCs layer is formed at the Al/Cu interface.The maximum tensile strength and elongation of Al/Cu weld are,respectively,135.11 MPa and 6.06%,which is achieved at the welding speed of 400 mm/min.In addition,due to the influence of welding distortion of the first-pass weld,the secondpass weld is more prone to form void defects than the first-pass weld when the same plunge depth is applied on both sides.The double-side friction stir welding is proved to be a good method for dissimilar welding of medium-thick Al/Cu plates.